On a quiet country road on a Sunday afternoon, a crowd gathers in the most unlikely of places. Cars are pulled in tight against the ditches and every so often a shout goes up as a heavy iron ball comes flying around a bend. A road bowling score is not watched from a stand. The crowd moves with it, walking the course shot by shot, debating lines and cheering every good bowl.

The idea is simple. Players throw an iron bowl weighing 28 ounces, about 794 grams, along a set stretch of road, and whoever covers the distance in the fewest throws wins. The sport's strongholds have long been Cork and Armagh, and in Armagh it is still known as "bullets". Since 1954 it has been governed by Ból Chumann na hÉireann, the Irish Road Bowling Association, which was founded at a meeting in Enniskeane under the leadership of west Cork's Flor Crowley.

Money has long been part of the roadside scene too. Scores are traditionally played for a stake with each side putting up an agreed sum. Friendly betting among spectators is a familiar sight at a score as well. Supporters back their favourite bowler to win and follow every shot with extra interest. Match reports still record the stake each score was played for, from a few hundred euro to several thousand.

The Language of the Road

An afternoon at a score brings a whole vocabulary with it. A match is a "score", and the throwing mark is the "butt". Ahead of the bowler stands the "road shower", who picks out the best line along the road, much like a caddie in golf. A small tuft of grass known as a "sop" is often placed on the road to mark where the bowl should first land.

When one player is a full shot ahead, they are said to be a "bowl of odds" in front, a phrase that appears again and again in match reports. Much of this language is older than any rulebook. The sport's path from local custom to codified rules only really took shape in the middle of the 20th century.

Legends of the Sport

Every sport has its greats, and road bowling has Mick Barry. Born in 1919, Barry played his first score in 1937 and his last at Dublin Hill on 1 June 1997, a career spanning six decades. In 1999, Ból Chumann na hÉireann named him the "Supreme Bowler of the Millennium". He died in 2014, but his name still comes up wherever bowlers gather.

Crowning the King and Queen of the Roads

The sport's big occasions still draw a crowd. This September, the King and Queen of the Roads were crowned at Ballincurrig, with bowlers and supporters travelling from Cork, Armagh, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy.

Arthur McDonagh took his second King title after beating Colm Rafferty in a final played for €600 a-side. The Queen final was even more dramatic. Germany's Anke Klopper beat Timoleague's Hannah Sexton in a contest played for €3,500 a-side, winning her first title in 14 years of trying and setting a new record for the road in the process.

A Sport With International Reach

Road bowling has cousins across Europe. Similar games are played in the Netherlands and Germany, and European Championships between the three countries have been held since 1969, every four years since 1980.

The tradition has crossed the Atlantic too. One of the largest Irish road bowling events in the world takes place each September in Wheeling, West Virginia, a sign of how far the sport has travelled with the Irish diaspora.

Keeping the Tradition on the Road

Road bowling has survived for generations because communities keep it going. Clubs organise the scores, families pass on the skills, and volunteers give up their weekends to run the big events.

For newcomers, the best introduction is simply to go along and watch, stand well in, listen for the warning shouts and follow the crowd up the road. Any betting at the roadside is for adults only and is best kept light and well within budget. The real reward is the atmosphere, and on a good day in the country there is nothing quite like it.